Temple Mount Gold

Ancient gold treasure from 6th century discovered in Jerusalem.

"A discovery like this happens once in a lifetime! It is breathtaking!"

That is the way Eilat Mazar described the exquisite gold medallion engraved with a menorah, a shofar and a small sefer Torah (Torah scroll), that was discovered in her latest dig in the Ophel Excavations.

And that's not all. Along with the medallion, 10 centimeters in diameter and on a gold chain, her team found gold jewelry and coins, a virtual treasure trove, all of them in a Byzantine structure, 50 meters south of the Temple Mount, just outside the southern walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

These comprise two gold hoards from the 6th century, and what makes it all the more fantastic is that it was totally unexpected.

They were only five days into the dig when Caridad (Cari) French, a young digger from abroad, together with Ahinoam Meyers, her Israeli digging partner, found what she thought was a copper earring, then another one. The women thought that they were modern, since they were so shiny, but then they dug some more and found gold coins, and the rest of the diggers, including Mazar herself, joined them, instructing everyone to use no sharp objects, only small paintbrushes to softly brush away the dirt. Suddenly the gold medallion came into view. Cari says in a short film made about the discovery: "My eyes were lit up. I'd never seen anything like that in my life."

Mazar states unequivocally, "The Bible is the most important historical source."

The discovery is all the sweeter because Mazar is considered controversial among some Israeli archeologists. She flies in the face of what many of them believe to be more scientific methods, because her blueprint has always been the Bible. She states unequivocally, "The Bible is the most important historical source."

Constantly Seeking Solomon

Credit: Eilat Mazar

In April, 2013, Mazar had begun the latest phase of her dig at the Ophel, with hope of finding more evidence relating to the period of Solomon's Temple, which she did as well. "I always consider my whole excavation, revealing the monumental construction of the 10th century BCE in Jerusalem, related to King David and King Solomon, as the most important enterprise in Jerusalem,” she told Aish.com when asked what she considers her most important finds. “It's not one item but a very large excavation project.”

"Revealing more about tenth generation BCE Jerusalem, from the Biblical period, is what inspires me every day, and I feel it is the pick of my archeological excavations." She is especially proud of “the Solomonic wall, the fortification line, along the Ofel area. Every year we go back there and we reveal another portion of the same thing.

"But I feel obligated to all periods related to Jerusalem. What we revealed on September 9th to the public is the treasure hoard of the Byzantine period.

"We did expect to find strata, layers of living, but we didn’t expect to find any hoards. We were at the early stages of a Byzantine layer when gold coins began to appear and there were more and more and then we came to the big medallion with Jewish symbols."

Mazar describes her partners in the dig. "They are young people from abroad, volunteer students of Herbert W. Armstrong College from Edmund, Oklahoma, who come for the whole season. There are young Israelis who are paid workers and most of them are students. Some are students of archeology but not all." Armstrong students have been volunteering at Mazar's digs since 2006. This year there were 13 of them, one-third of her workforce. The work is done on behalf of Hebrew University, in cooperation with the Antiquities Authority and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Mazar is also a senior fellow at the Shalem Center.

The only other medallion of similar, though not identical, qualities is on display in the Jewish Museum in London, its origins unknown. Reuven Peretz, archeologist and historian of the Hebrew University Institute of Archeology, says that the symbols on the medallion of the menorah and the shofar were common during the Byzantine times, but the symbol of the sefer Torah was usually found outside of Israel, in Rome or elsewhere. The medallion in London, he says, has a Greek inscription on it, noting that it was donated by Jacob, the leader of the synagogue and community, who was also a pearl-setter, and therefore probably a wealthy man.

A medallion such as this has never been discovered in any dig.

"A medallion such as this has never been discovered in any dig," says Mazar, "and just as startling as the medallion itself is the symbol of the sefer Torah next to the menorah. In all the scores of examples, of floors of ancient synagogues where a menorah appears, it has by its side the symbols of the shofar, of the four species [that are used on Sukkot] or other items, but on the gold Ophel medallion there is the rare symbol of the sefer Torah. This indicates to us that the medallion was used to adorn a real sefer Torah."

And as such, she says, it is the oldest known artifact of its type.

Why Were They Hidden?

Mazar believes that these treasures were brought to Jerusalem by Jews from abroad, who were told by the Persians, who had conquered the city in 614 CE, that they could once more settle in Jerusalem. This raised their hopes greatly, especially after the hundreds of years that it had been forbidden to Jews to settle there. She believes the coins may have been intended to purchase land, build synagogues, and perhaps even to build the Temple.

But the Persians began to lose power and then reneged on their offer, enabling the Christians to banish the Jews from the city.

Mazar: "The Jews who hid these objects probably had to run away, to save their lives, and they were never able to come back to rescue this hoard." So the treasures were buried, possibly with the dream that they would someday be redeemed. And now they are.

Mazar's past discoveries are documented in her books The Complete Guide to the Temple Mount Excavations (2002) and Discovering the Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem: A Remarkable Archaeological Adventure (2011). Oded Borowski of The Biblical Archaeology Review wrote, "One of the crown jewels in Mazar’s still-young career is her discovery of a wall that was likely part of ancient Jerusalem’s fortifications during the tenth century B.C.E., believed to be the time of King Solomon."

And now there are more jewels to add to that collection. For along with the medallion were found earrings, bracelets and 36 gold coins. Some of the items had remnants of fabric on them, indicating that they were at one time packaged in two separate cloth purses. The coins were scattered, as if left in a hurry; the other items seemed carefully packed away. Mimi Levy, Head of the Preservation Laboratory at Hebrew U., describes how she had to use very fine scalpel blades, working very delicately, to clean the items, all done under a microscope.

Numismatics expert Lior Sandberg says that this is only the third gold hoard of coins to be found in Jerusalem in the last hundred years, and is a phenomenal discovery on its own. There are ten coins from the 4th century CE and 26 coins from the 6th century CE, ranging over 250 years, from Constantine II to Mauricius.

Ancient Hebrew Script, a Cave and Head of a Lioness

Mazar considers one of her most important finds during the previous digging season a piece of pottery with writing on it, originally believed to be Canaanite or Jebusite writing. In fact, an entire theory was developed by researchers about how David and Solomon must have understood the importance of having scribes in their courts who knew other languages, but Mazar says, "In fact, when more research was done, they discovered that it is the most ancient Hebrew script ever found. The pottery seems to have been used to hold wine, but it was wine for cooking, not for holy services."

Another exciting discovery is described in a short film by Brent Nagtegaal, instructor in history at Armstrong College and Mazar's supervisor of the Area B digs (there are three areas). The cave that is being excavated in the Ophel area was originally an ancient water cistern with entrances from three different directions, used during the first Temple period, situated beneath first Temple houses.

But as Mazar's team dug in different directions, they discovered that there were also layers from the Herodian period, walls that had been built later, and that in addition to those walls were tunnels that had been built into bedrock, with signs of hand and foot holds, and places where candles would have been placed.

Josephus describes tunnels such as these, in The Jewish War, about how the Jews tried to create places to hide during the Roman siege on Jerusalem, so they would be able later to escape. Nagtegaal points out that at some point a few of the tunnels stopped, only 20 centimeters in, and he conjectures that it was at that point that either the Romans broke through, or the Jews thought they had no more time and would have to hide themselves.

Unfortunately, we know from history that even the desperate digging of the tunnels did not rescue them from devastation.

On the first day of the 2013 dig, they also discovered a sekhmet figurine. It has the face of a lioness and a human head. They have found several of these and are studying what role they played in Jerusalem during that period of 10th century BCE.

In a small country like Israel, as miraculous as the discovery of the golden treasure, is the fact that for five months the entire excavating team kept the secret until Mazar revealed it to the world on Sept. 9.

Fourteen centuries after Jews buried their precious treasure and fled from the persecution of Christians, young Jews from Israel and young Christians from abroad are working with a veteran Jerusalem archeologist to uncover the story. The seven-stem menorah, created for the Holy Temple and depicted on the arch of Titus in Rome as a symbol of the Jews going into exile, is today the official symbol of the State of Israel.

It would seem to be the fulfillment of the Biblical verse "Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer…for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." (Isaiah 56:7).

This new part of the Ophel site will soon be open to the public, so that all can partake of its wonders.

For some of the information in this article, the author was directed by Dr. Mazar to the project website: www.keytodavidscity.com. The author is an award-winning theater director and editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com. Her daughter directs the sifting crew under Dr. Mazar.

Visitor Comments: 17

She follows the Bible code..has justly been rewarded...quite incredible..

(12)
J.D.,
September 25, 2013 3:04 PM

Wow

I know it's not the point of the article, but those are some serious medallions!

(11)
Debbie,
September 24, 2013 8:24 PM

I wouldn't call this a virtual treasure trove.

It's an ACTUAL treasure. It's as real as matter can be, and it substantiates the details of our history, which are spiritually as well as physically accurate.

(10)
Antonio Perez,
September 23, 2013 9:55 PM

Temple Mount Gold

The true treasure is the Jewish people. When we learn to treasure and value each other, then we'll be a rich people indeed.

Anonymous,
September 24, 2013 1:06 PM

You say it succinctly

Well put. The ultimate treasure is good human beings. Thanks for commenting!

(9)
Thoko,
September 23, 2013 3:41 PM

Wonderful! I still believe the Bible even if such discoveries be rare

(8)
Richard,
September 23, 2013 1:27 PM

excellent article totally fascinating will any of these coins be going on sale

would like some more reports on your digs

Burnsy,
September 23, 2013 10:28 PM

More information

There is a lot of information regarding past and current digs of Dr. Mazar at www.keytodavidscity.com. This is the website constructed by the Herbert W Armstrong students in conjunction with Dr. Mazar and as they are involved with her they almost always the point of first publication of documented results.

Toby Klein Greenwald,
September 24, 2013 1:03 PM

Thanks Burnsy, that was noted

I included a reference to the website at the end of my article but thanks for pointing it out again.

(7)
Anonymous,
September 23, 2013 12:38 PM

Iloved it. Wait for the day that they will find THE ARK OF THE COVENANT! Thank you for the privilege of reading this.

Anonymous,
September 24, 2013 1:05 PM

Thanks for your comments!

Wouldn't that be amazing? Let's hope it happens in our lifetime!

(6)
Joseph Mashego,
September 23, 2013 7:18 AM

The digging discovery

I want to honor those students who went this far to find the hidden treasures. Let those who think Jerusalem belongs to the Arabs be in shame. Jerusalem has been delegated to the Jews by our honourable God and no one can change this. I support that the Temple be builded as this is the ripe time for the Temple to be rebuilded. No nation will ever stand against Israel and as a believer in the God of Israel that He alone is God. I stand 100% in support for the new Temple to be rebuilded. Shalom!! Shalom!!! Shalom!!!! Shalom!!!!! Shalom!!!!!! Shalom!!!!!!! Shalom!!!!!!!!

(5)
Gloria Hollander Lyon,
September 23, 2013 5:31 AM

Temple Mount Gold

This historic treasure excavated at the Temple Mount proves once again that Jews lived in Jerusalem even as far back as the 6th century. We know from the Torah that we go back even further . But does the world know that-.. so, why would Jerusalem have to be split up with the Arabs for peace. GHL

(4)
Anonymous,
September 23, 2013 3:45 AM

archeological accuracy

heard from a 40 year veteran Teacher of T'Nach & Tourist Guide.Shortly after the 67 war the Kosel Plaza was widened & paved & Yidden were coming to Daven at the Kosel, One overheard 2 archeologists arguing over the age of the large stone pavings, how many hundreds of years old they were. He turned to them and said, "look over in the corner, they are just finishing laying these pavers". Just an example of their "exact science". When the Torah tells us it is FACT otherwise ...

(3)
Zyggy,
September 23, 2013 12:20 AM

Keep it safe

Becouse the cousins might SAY this is a coin which the horse Burak left in the Prphets voyage !,!,Another proof of who was there. ,, ! Some ( a few) years beffore the voyage. Hohoho!

(2)
Anonymous,
September 22, 2013 3:46 PM

Wow what a wonderful gift right before Yom Kippur!

(1)
AYR,
September 17, 2013 8:51 PM

Bais HaMikdash HaShlishi TVBB"A

Re. the future of the Har HaBayis (Temple Mount) --

A computer model of Bais HaMikdash HaShlishi TVBB”A (the Jerusalem Temple of the Future) can be seen at:http://home.comcast.net/~a.rokach/Mikdash/V1.jpgand http://home.comcast.net/~a.rokach/site/?/page/Bais_HaMikdash_HaShlishi_TVBBA

Made with professional software, it is based on RASHI [Yechezkel 40 - 43] as explained by the Tosafos Yom Tov in his Sefer “Tzuras HaBayis.”

I'm told that it's a mitzvah to become intoxicated on Purim. This puzzles me, because to my understanding, it is not considered a good thing to become intoxicated, period.

One of the characteristics of the at-risk youth is their use of drugs, including alcohol. In my experience, getting drunk doesn't reveal secrets. It makes people act stupid and irresponsible, doing things they would never do if they were sober. Also, I know a lot about the horrible health effects of abusing alcohol, because I work at a research center that focuses on addiction and substance abuse.

Also, I am an alcoholic, which means that if I drink, very bad things happen. I have not had a drink in 22 years, and I have no intention of starting now. Surely there must be instances where a person is excused from the obligation to drink. I don't see how Judaism could ever promote the idea of getting drunk. It just doesn't seem right.

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Putting aside for a moment all the spiritual and philosophical reasons for getting drunk on Purim, this remains an issue of common sense. Of course, teenagers should be warned of the dangers of acute alcohol ingestion. Of course, nobody should drink and drive. Of course, nobody should become so drunk to the point of negligence in performing mitzvot. And of course, a recovering alcoholic should not partake of alcohol on Purim.

Indeed, the Code of Jewish Law explicitly says that if one suspects the drinking may affect him negatively, then he should NOT drink.

Getting drunk on Purim is actually one of the most difficult mitzvot to do correctly. A person should only drink if it will lead to positive spiritual results - e.g. under the loosening affect of the alcohol, greater awareness will surface of the love for God and Torah found deep in the heart. (Perhaps if we were on a higher spiritual level, we wouldn't need to get drunk!)

Yet the Talmud still speaks of an obligation on Purim of "not knowing the difference between Blessed is Mordechai and Cursed is Haman." How then should a person who doesn't drink get the point of “not knowing”? Simple - just go to sleep! (Rama - OC 695:2)

All this applies to individuals. But the question remains - does drinking on Purim adversely affect the collective social health of the Jewish community?

The aversion to alcoholism is engrained into Jewish consciousness from a number of Biblical and Talmudic sources. There are the rebuking words of prophets - Isaiah 28:1, Hosea 3:1 with Rashi, and Amos 6:6, and the Zohar says that "The wicked stray after wine" (Midrash Ne'alam Parshat Vayera).

It is well known that the rate of alcoholism among Jews has historically been very low. Numerous medical, psychological and sociological studies have confirmed this. The connection between Judaism and sobriety is so evident, that the following conversation is reported by Lawrence Kelemen in "Permission to Receive":

When Dr. Mark Keller, editor of the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, commented that "practically all Jews do drink, and yet all the world knows that Jews hardly ever become alcoholics," his colleague, Dr. Howard Haggard, director of Yale's Laboratory of Applied Physiology, jokingly proposed converting alcoholics to the Jewish religion in order to immerse them in a culture with healthy attitudes toward drinking!

Perhaps we could suggest that it is precisely because of the use of alcohol in traditional ceremonies (Kiddush, Bris, Purim, etc.), that Jews experience such low rates of alcoholism. This ceremonial usage may actually act like an inoculation - i.e. injecting a safe amount that keeps the disease away.

Of course, as we said earlier, all this needs to be monitored with good common sense. Yet in my personal experience - having been in the company of Torah scholars who were totally drunk on Purim - they acted with extreme gentleness and joy. Amid the Jewish songs and beautiful words of Torah, every year the event is, for me, very special.

Adar 12 marks the dedication of Herod's renovations on the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 11 BCE. Herod was king of Judea in the first century BCE who constructed grand projects like the fortresses at Masada and Herodium, the city of Caesarea, and fortifications around the old city of Jerusalem. The most ambitious of Herod's projects was the re-building of the Temple, which was in disrepair after standing over 300 years. Herod's renovations included a huge man-made platform that remains today the largest man-made platform in the world. It took 10,000 men 10 years just to build the retaining walls around the Temple Mount; the Western Wall that we know today is part of that retaining wall. The Temple itself was a phenomenal site, covered in gold and marble. As the Talmud says, "He who has not seen Herod's building, has never in his life seen a truly grand building."

Some people gauge the value of themselves by what they own. But in reality, the entire concept of ownership of possessions is based on an illusion. When you obtain a material object, it does not become part of you. Ownership is merely your right to use specific objects whenever you wish.

How unfortunate is the person who has an ambition to cleave to something impossible to cleave to! Such a person will not obtain what he desires and will experience suffering.

Fortunate is the person whose ambition it is to acquire personal growth that is independent of external factors. Such a person will lead a happy and rewarding life.

With exercising patience you could have saved yourself 400 zuzim (Berachos 20a).

This Talmudic proverb arose from a case where someone was fined 400 zuzim because he acted in undue haste and insulted some one.

I was once pulling into a parking lot. Since I was a bit late for an important appointment, I was terribly annoyed that the lead car in the procession was creeping at a snail's pace. The driver immediately in front of me was showing his impatience by sounding his horn. In my aggravation, I wanted to join him, but I saw no real purpose in adding to the cacophony.

When the lead driver finally pulled into a parking space, I saw a wheelchair symbol on his rear license plate. He was handicapped and was obviously in need of the nearest parking space. I felt bad that I had harbored such hostile feelings about him, but was gratified that I had not sounded my horn, because then I would really have felt guilty for my lack of consideration.

This incident has helped me to delay my reactions to other frustrating situations until I have more time to evaluate all the circumstances. My motives do not stem from lofty principles, but from my desire to avoid having to feel guilt and remorse for having been foolish or inconsiderate.

Today I shall...

try to withhold impulsive reaction, bearing in mind that a hasty act performed without full knowledge of all the circumstances may cause me much distress.

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